WAHOO - WE LOVE LAGOON!

Actually, that's quite the understatement at our house. We've been to Lagoon a few times on my Mom and Dad's Stake Lagoon Day, but up until this year, we've just decide to ride on the rides we had free tickets for. Last year, the kids literally were drooling watching all the other kids ride the rides and we decided this was the year to buy them tickets to ride any kiddie ride they wanted. Needless to say, it was a huge success.

One of the first rides was the helicopters. Hailey was a bit apprehensive at first, when she realized that pushing or pulling the bar in front of her made her go up and down, but before long she was smiling and giggling and of course wanted to ride it again right away.


Zach loved the helicopters too and always wanted to be in the "camoflage" one.


I again forgot my camera, so my thanks goes out to my sister who dutifully took pictures of not only her own kids, but mine as well - thanks Michelle! This was one of my favorites - don't they look excited to ride this water plane? This one went up and down too, much to their delight.


Our tickets actually included a few free adult rides as well. The Musik Express is a must for our family, having been there while I was growing up. I remember riding it every time we went to Lagoon. The boys love it too and persuaded almost everyone to ride with them at some point. Aunt Kylie was the first victim and I couldn't stop laughing as we watched them go around and around with big smiles on their faces.


Since the younger ones weren't too excited about the speed of the Musik Express, Nana took them back to the kiddie rides and they rode a few while we were finishing up.


It's not surprising that one of the most favorite rides was the swings. My kids love to swing, not matter when and where we are. I watch them outside - swinging for hours on our swingset, so when they wanted to ride this ride over and over, I was not at all shocked.


One of the best things about this trip to Lagoon was being able to go with family. Zach and Hailey have cousins that are fairly close to their ages, so it really made it fun to go with each other, and then with their cousins on rides. Zach and Ashton were big boys in the picture above and wanted to go in separate swings, but sit near each other. Branson and Hailey on the other hand, decided they wanted to go together the first time. They were so cute together and it was fun to watch them enjoying the rides with each other.


Everyone took a ride on the Tilt-a-Wirl because we had free tickets for that too. Jeremiah took the boys the first time and although Ashton didn't like it, Zach had a blast! Of course, it seems that Jeremiah was having a pretty good time too!


I'm extremely surprised at how well my kids did. Both of them rode a few rides they weren't quite sure about, but decided to try anyway. Hailey found out that a few of them weren't ones she wanted to do again, but I was very proud of her for giving them a shot. Zach on the other hand loved every single ride and wanted to ride everything over and over. I've been really impressed with how much he's come out of his shell the last few years - not only socially, but mentally too. He's much more brave and willing to try new things. I really am proud of him.

So in summary, we had a great day! We were there from 11am to 9pm and literally had to drag the kids away. I would have guessed that after a hot day of standing in lines and riding rides that they would have fallen right to sleep on the ride home. But both were so excited about the day that they literally chatted with us and each other almost all the way home. Hailey finally fell asleep during the last 10 minutes and Zach made it all the way. What a fun day we had and we all can't wait to go again next year. Even though we were all tired and exhausted the next day, it was well worth it! Thanks Nana and Papa for sharing your tickets with us - we all had a great time!